The Dad He Didn't To Be
by ShadowWriter1960
Summary: Hermione’s son talks about his stepfather. ONE SHOT


This is a one shot story. I wrote it while being bored at my Aunt's house. Now I'm off to work on my other story. Thanks Moony's Angel.

**The Dad He Didn't Have To Be.**

**By Shadowwriter55**

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The ideas are mine, but the characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with them. I'll return them as soon as I'm done

Summery: Hermione's son talks about his stepfather.****

I'm sitting here on this beautiful October morning watching my dad hold my son. The look of love and pride I see in his eyes as he watches the tiny infant in his arms show the same love and pride as when he looks at me. Watching the two of them together, I hope I can be at least half the dad he didn't have to be.

He came into our lives when I was 3, or should I say into my life. My mum had known him a few years before I was born, but everyone thought he was dead. I'd been hearing about this man since the day I was born. Everyone loved him and missed him. Uncle Harry seemed to be the most effected, but Aunt Ginny helped him though it all, or so, Uncle Ron said. It was explained to me later, that Uncle Remus and Uncle Harry found a way to bring him back. I remember my mum when she found out he was safe and back at Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's. She cried when Grandma Molly told her, and she smiled a lot the next couple days.

A few days later, he came to visit at our house and asked mum if she wanted to go out for dinner. She said she would love to, but she didn't have a baby-sitter. I'll never forget that night and the look on his face when she told him about me. This tall dark haired, dark eyed man asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with them. **He asked me**! I'd never been asked to go when one of mum's dates took her out. So of course, I said yes, and the three of us went to dinner, then to a movie and they let me pick it out. We came home late and this man asked if he could help tuck me into bed. I knew right then I liked him.

As I lay in my bed that night, I heard him ask mum where my father was. She told him, that he had been killed by a deatheater a few weeks after I was born. She told him my father's name was Alexander Mitchell and she had met him just out of school; they fell in love and got married. They were so happy when they found I was on the way, but he was killed shortly after my birth. I know I'd heard that story before, but it…no she sounded different telling it to this man. She was different with this man, more relaxed some how.

For the next few months, he would visit and we would do things together, all three of us. Once in a while, he and mum would go out by themselves, but that was okay. When they did I usually got to stay with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny or with Uncle Remus and Aunt Alexia. One night I heard Uncle Remus talking to Aunt Alexia and I heard him tell her that Padfoot and mum were falling for each other. I didn't know who this Padfoot person was, but I wanted mum to marry Sirius. The next day Mum took me to the park, where she told me she needed to talk to me. She said that last night Sirius had asked her to marry him. I gave her a huge smile, I loved him and I wanted her to say yes. When I asked what she said, she told me she didn't give him an answer because she needed to talk to me first. I laughed and told her to say yes.

Later that year they married at Hogwarts. Everyone was there; it was the biggest party I'd ever been to. Grandma Minerva and Grandpa Dumbledore hosted. I danced with my mum, Aunt Ginny, Aunt Alexia, Grandma G. (that's what I called Grandma Granger) and Grandma Molly. I played with my cousins and the other kids until I thought I was going to drop. The time came for the cake to be cut; mum and Sirius asked if I wanted to help. Of course I did. I had a vital job that day. I was the honorary best man. I didn't know the importance of that back then I just knew my soon to be dad had asked me to stand up front with him, Uncle Remus and Uncle Harry. Now looking back I see that even then he was being the kind of dad he didn't have to be.

From that day on we were a family, Mum, me, and Sirius. I had never been a part of a real family before and I loved having a dad. From the moment mum said I do, I started calling him dad and he told everyone I was his son. We went to muggle ball games and wizarding Quidditch matches. He took me to movies, the park and taught me everything I know. He taught me spells and hexes before I went to school. He showed me how to prank people, but also made sure I knew how to be respectful. He taught me that not everyone would like me, but as long as I liked myself, what others thought didn't really matter. He was my best friend and we had lots of fun, but he also made me mind. He helped my mum mold me into the man I am today. He told me all about Hogwarts and helped me prepare for my future.

All through my years at Hogwarts he was there when I needed him. He sent me an owl every week, just from him. He never once forgot a holiday, not a birthday or Christmas. Not only did I get a gift from mum and him, but also he always gave me something small. Usually it was something from his childhood and there was always a lesson in it. I didn't realize this until I was older. I remember wanting to have my name changed when I was 14. I wanted to be Gabriel Alexander Black, but he explained to me the importance if keeping my biological father's last name, and I made my case for wanting to change it. He and Mum talked about it; then we all sat down and talked some more. We compromised and on my sixteenth birthday I became Gabriel Alexander Mitchell-Black.

My last day of school, was one of the best days of my life. Mum and dad came to Hogsmeade. They met me so I could go home with them. That night we stayed at Hogsmeade and had dinner with grandma Minerva and grandpa Albus. I never really knew why I called them grandma and grandpa, but they were as much my grandparents as mum's parents. When we returned home, mum and dad gave me the summer to relax before I had to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Dad took me to work with him a couple times and I sat in with Uncle Arthur once or twice. Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Remus explained their jobs to me as well. Mum and Dad explained all the options over the summer and never once pressured me into anything. That summer as I listened to my friends bad mouth their families, I realized what a great set of parents I had and as I thought about it I hoped that one day I would be a least have the dad that Sirius didn't have to be.

That summer I met Katie she worked for mum. I think it was love at first sight. We dated for a year and a half as I went through Auror training and she worked hard at helping mum in her clothing store. I remember the night I approached dad about asking her to marry me. He have me some great advice and helped me understand that marriage was not always easy, that there would be ups and downs. When I told him mum's and his were perfect he chuckled and told me they had their problems, but they worked on them. They never went to bed angry and they always made time for one another. Dad told me that the best piece of advice he could give me was to always remember the important dates, like anniversaries and birthdays and those small things made all the difference in a marriage. I wasn't sure what he meant, until I really watched him and mum one weekend. They were always touching one another, nothing big, just a hand on a shoulder or a small peck on the cheek or top of the head as they passed. They would also leave each other little notes.

Katie and I married with the full support of my parents. Dad was my best man. It meant so much to me to have him standing up with me. As I said I do I glanced at him, the pride he felt showed in the tears in his eyes. He gave the most amazing toast, so full of love and pride. He told everyone how happy he was to be my dad. He wrapped his arms around my mum and told her the advice he'd given me. Today, I still follow that advice and I have a wonderful marriage. I am thankful everyday that he came into my life and hope I can be at least half the dad he didn't have to be.

Mum and dad loved Katie from the beginning, so they were thrilled when we told them we were going to have a baby. We'd been trying for a couple years and had just about given up when she began to feel sick a lot. We went to the healer and she told us we were expecting. Mum and dad were there through everything, always loving us and supporting us. Katie didn't have any family so they immediately made her part of ours. I'll never forget the night my son made his appearance. Everyone was at the hospital, and I mean everyone. Mum said dad was more nervous that I was. She said he paced the hallways all night, even Uncle Remus and grandpa Albus couldn't get him to sit down.

He was the first one to greet me when I came out of the delivery room. When I announced we had a son, his first thoughts were "Is Katie all right?" When he was sure everyone was well he hugged me then pulled my mother into a tight embrace. I heard him whisper to her, "Hermione, we did it love, we raised our son and now he has a son of his own." I saw the tears in his eyes and she did as well, when she asked him what was wrong, he said, "I just hope I've been a good father, one he can be proud of. I hope I've taught him well."

Those words made me cry, and as I sit here in my house surrounded by family and friends with him, the man I call my dad, holding and loving my son, Sirius Alexander Mitchell- Black, I think about those words and I have to smile. He worries about the kind of father he was and hope he did a good job? I sit here praying to Merlin, God and any other power that's out there, that I'm at least half the dad he didn't have to be, because he didn't have to be my dad, he didn't have to love me, just because he loves my mum, I'm thankful everyday he is my dad, but he didn't have to be.


End file.
